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Aussie Police Begin Investigation After New Zealand Rugby Claims It Was Bugged

Australian police are investigating a suspicious "electronic device" found at the All Blacks team hotel in Sydney "but say they only became aware of the matter via a media report five days after it was originally found," according to Tom Decent of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. It "is understood a sophisticated listening device was found in the All Blacks' team room" at their Intercontinental Double Bay hotel on Monday ahead of the Bledisloe Cup opener on Saturday. New Zealand Rugby said in a statement that an investigation "was underway, after the device was found in a team meeting room." NZR CEO Steve Tew said that the listening device "was discovered in the All Blacks' team room during a routine security check on Monday." He said, "The hotel immediately launched an investigation, we have informed the Australian Rugby Union, and jointly we have now decided to hand over the investigation to the Australian police." The sophisticated device -- "described as similar to that used by law enforcement and spying agencies -- had been planted in a chair in the hotel" where the team has been staying since Sunday. The report "also suggested the foam of the seat appeared to have been deliberately and carefully cut to make way for the surveillance device and then sewn or glued back together to be almost undetectable." ARU CEO Bill Pulver said that there was "no way the game's governing body had anything to do with the device." Pulver: "Look, I have literally just seen a note from Steve Tew telling me about this... the two unions have agreed to hand the matter over to the police. Mate, of course [the ARU is not involved]. It is completely ludicrous. I just think it's a ludicrous concept that there are listening devices being placed in team rooms. I don't know how that could happen" (SMH, 8/20). The AAP reported All Blacks coach Steve Hansen "has explained why it took five days for the New Zealand Rugby Union to come forward about the alleged bugging." Hansen said that All Blacks management decided it was "best to wait" for Tew to arrive in Sydney from the Rio Olympics "before taking the matter further." Hansen: "The reason that we didn’t go there straight away was because we went through a process with the hotel and our CEO was away at the Olympics." His comments came after the All Blacks beat the Wallabies 42-8 in a "record-breaking performance" at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night. He added, "He arrived and he needed to be spoken to and fully briefed on it. Once he was fully briefed, he said, 'Righto we need to take this to the police'" (AAP, 8/20). In Auckland, Russell Blackstock reported as "the hunt begins to identify who bugged the All Blacks," security experts have described the "outrageous operation as expensive and sophisticated -- but expected the culprits to be quickly found." Daniel Toresen of Auckland private investigations firm Thompson and Toresen described the find as "rare, extreme and serious." He believed it would have been "carried out with someone with specialist knowledge on covert operations." Listening devices "were easy to find online, but Toresen said expertise was needed to install and operate them properly" (NEW ZEALAND HERALD, 8/21). 

NEW TERRITORY: In Auckland, Patrick McKendry wrote if "the discovery of a listening device" inside the All Blacks' team room "was a surprise, so too has been the response of the game's various governing bodies." So far, "too, there is silence" from SANZAAR, "under whose auspices the test was played at ANZ Stadium." SANZAAR reportedly sent a terse "please explain" to NZR regarding "the delay in the police being notified," but a SANZAAR spokesperson "would only" say, "No, SANZAAR not involved. It is with the police." World Rugby "has also remained silent on the issue for now" (NZ HERALD, 8/21).

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